Department
of Philosophy
Coordinator: Dr Alexandra Cook
Room:
MB 308
Ph:
2219 4335
Lectures: Tuesdays & Thursdays, Room M237, 10:40-11:30am
Office hours:
Dr Cook’s office hour will
be 3:30-5 pm Wednesdays, and by appointment.
She will schedule special office hours and/or tutorials for discussion
of essays (depending on class size).
Tutorials: Arrangements
will be made in class.
Cellphones: Use of cellphones in class is not permitted.
Course Introduction:
This
course introduces you to some of the ways that Western philosophers have
answered questions such as: what is morality? Can we expect virtue to make us
happy? What is the best way to organise society? Texts by ancient, modern, and contemporary
philosophers explore philosophical questions about the way we relate to other
people.
There
is no one set text for this course. You
may sign out readings for photocopying in the Philosophy Department Office; you
must provide a valid telephone number on the sign-out sheet. Please return all readings when you are
finished copying them!
WARNING:
E-book
links for some texts are provided in the course outline, and on the course web
page. However, these are NOT the most
up-to-date editions/ translations, so please be advised that you use them at
your own risk.
Assessment (3 components):
(1)
Tutorial coursework and class participation (25%):
(a) Discussion board question: at least TWO questions
(for two different lectures) about
the reading on the class to be posted on the class discussion board 48 hours
before the lecture in which the reading is to be discussed. A sign-up sheet (by lecture date) will be
distributed in lecture. Good questions
will link the course readings to
current events.
(b) Tutorial assignments: a written response (no more
than 500 words!) to one of the questions
posted on the class discussion board (see below) since the last tutorial. Warning: identical answers will receive a
grade of “0.” Also see “Plagiarism.”
below.
(c) one question about the lecture, submitted at the
end of that lecture (for at least 10 lectures).
(2)
Thursday, 9 October: mid-term test (35%):
short answers and/or essays; prepare in
lecture, 2 October.
(3)
Friday, 19 December: Essay (40%):
an instruction handout will be distributed.
Plagiarism:
Unacknowledged use of
another's work constitutes plagiarism.
There are serious penalties for this academic offense. You must reference your work correctly. See guidelines posted on the course web page
and at this link:
http://www3.hku.hk/philodep/ugrad/citation.php.
Penalty for late submissions: 1% of original mark per late day, including
weekends.
Course website:
The
course website will provide you with information, lecture notes and course
handouts: http://www3.hku.hk/philodep/ugrad/courses.php.
Course discussion board:
The
discussion board is found at: http://www.hku.hk/discuspro/messages/board-topics.html;
this course is found under “
Lecture
Outline:
Lecture 1: 2 September
Course
Introduction
Lecture 2: 4 September
What
is morality, and should we be moral?
Recommended:
348a-350c (Virtue/Knowledge), 357a-376c (is morality natural? desirable?)
E-book: http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3142059x
Lecture 3: 9 September
Community-Individual
Analogy, Principle of Specialization, Harmonious Soul
Lectures 4 & 5: 11 & 16 September
What
is virtue?
E-book: http://eproxy.lib.hku.hk/login?url=http://site.ebrary.com/lib/hkulibrary/Doc?id=2000816
Lectures 6 & 7: 18 & 23 September
Aristotle’s Polis
E-book: http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B33650585
Lecture 8: 25 September
No
e-book available
Lecture 9: 30 September
Machiavelli—should
leaders/states be moral?
E-book: http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B31447351
Lecture 10: 2 October
Quiz
preparation: prepare questions (you may email them in advance to Dr Cook)
Public
Mid-term test: 9 October
Reading Week:
13 – 18 October
Lectures 11 & 12: 21 & 23 October
State
of
Ebook: http://eproxy.lib.hku.hk/login?url=http://site.ebrary.com/lib/hkulibrary/Doc?id=2001977
Lecture 13 & 14: 28
& 30 October
Slavery: can a slave-owning
society be moral?
Aristotle,
Politics, 1.6, 1.13
Locke,
Second Treatise, ch. 4
Rousseau,
On the Social Contract, chs. 1.1, 1.4
(for e-book, see below)
Lectures 15, 16 & 17: 4,
6 & 11 November
Rousseau’s
theory of the social contract
Rousseau,
On the Social Contract, I.6, II.1-5,
II.11, III.3-5 (
E-book: http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B31407377
Lecture 18: 13 November
The
Lectures 19 & 20: 18
& 20 November
The
Marxist vision of a just society
http://eproxy.lib.hku.hk/login?url=http://site.ebrary.com/lib/hkulibrary/Doc?id=10015107
Lectures 21 & 22: 25
& 27 November
Environmental
Ethics
Michel
Serres, The Natural Contract, pp.
27-50 (photocopy)
Film:
Al Gore, “An Inconvenient Truth” (A-V Library reserve)